The Ottawa Senators did themselves a world of good in the playoff picture, withstanding a late push to top the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Saturday night.

Defensemen Tyler Kleven and Jordan Spence led the way for the Senators (36-24-9, 81 points) with two assists each. Linus Ullmark turned away 12 of 14 shots for Ottawa, which has won four of its last five.

Rookie Easton Cowan tallied a goal and an assist for the floundering Maple Leafs (29-29-13, 71 points). Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll finished with 38 saves when he was forced to man the posts for the second night in a row after Anthony Stolarz was hit in the throat by a puck during pregame warmups.

Tim Stutzle opened the scoring late in the first period on the man advantage, walking the puck into the right faceoff circle and sniping it under the arm of Woll. It was his first power-play marker since the return from the Olympic break.

Claude Giroux extended Ottawa’s lead at 9:09 of the second period, pouncing on Kleven’s low shot from the point to flip the puck up and over the pad of Woll. The goal snapped the 38-year-old’s 13-game scoring slump.

Deadline acquisition Warren Foegele made it 3-0 when he pounced on an ill-advised pass by Toronto in its defensive zone. Foegele’s soft shot deflected off Simon Benoit and into the net for his fourth tally in eight games with the Senators.

John Tavares responded with one of the Leafs’ few creative sequences on the night, trading puck possession with linemate Cowan and beating Ullmark blocker side for his 25th goal of the season.

The Senators outshot the Leafs 19-5 in a dominant middle-frame showing. Toronto has now been outshot in eight consecutive games.

The Leafs made it interesting early in the third. Cowan scored 4:52 into the period when he scored on a rebound of a Benoit shot.

But Michael Amadio quickly quashed any hope of a comeback with a goal less than five minutes later. Ridly Greig extended Ottawa’s lead back to three with 6:49 left, putting the game to rest.

The Senators sustained another injury to their defense when Dennis Gilbert left the game after taking a hard hit from Oliver Ekman-Larsson late in the third.

The Leafs were without defenseman Morgan Rielly, who aggravated a lower-body injury Friday against Carolina.

–Field Level Media

Achol Akot poured in a season-high 28 points on 12-for-15 shooting and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds as eighth-seeded Oklahoma State rolled past ninth-seeded Princeton, 82-68, at Los Angeles.

Oklahoma State (24-9) will face the California Baptist-UCLA winner in Monday’s second round after shooting 52.5% from the field in the opening round.

Jaydn Wooten came off the bench for 18 points, Micah Gray posted 16 points and Haleigh Timmer added 10 points for the Cowgirls, who led 48-33 at halftime.

Madison St. Rose had 17 points and Ashley Chea and Skye Belker both had 14 points for ninth-seeded Princeton (26-4). Olivia Hutcherson added 10 points, but the Tigers didn’t have enough strength in the lane to contend with the Cowgirls.

Princeton got within 61-53 by the end of the third quarter and Belker’s 3-pointer supplied the first points of the fourth quarter. Wooten responded with two baskets to ignite a 9-0 run that helped Oklahoma State take its edge to 72-58.

A 35-26 rebounding edge for Oklahoma State included 11 offensive boards.

Akot entered the game averaging less than 12 points per game.

–Field Level Media

Cole Caufield had a hat trick and finished with five points, and the Canadiens beat the New York Islanders 7-3 in Montreal on Saturday night

It was the first career five-point game for Caufield, who has 43 goals on the season.

Juraj Slafkovsky had two goals and two assists for his first career four-point game, and Kaiden Guhle had a goal and two assists for the Canadiens (38-21-10, 86 points). Nick Suzuki had four assists and Jacob Fowler made 19 saves.

Emil Heineman, Simon Holmstrom and Matthew Schaefer scored for the Islanders (39-26-5, 83 points). Ilya Sorokin allowed six goals on 32 shots before being lifted in the third period.

Slafkovsky gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the first period when he scored on a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Suzuki during a power play.

Heineman tied it 1-1 at 6:46, getting to a loose puck in the left circle on the rush and beating Fowler far side on a power play.

Holmstrom gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 13:19, scoring on a breakaway when he deked around Fowler before sliding the puck home.

The Canadiens regained the lead with a pair of goals late in the second period.

Alex Newhook tied the game when he scored on a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle at 17:49.

Caufield gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead at 19:08. He took a return pass from Suzuki along the goal line and lifted a shot over Sorokin’s right shoulder.

Schaefer tied it 3-3 just 45 seconds into the third period, scoring a power-play goal on a one-timer from the center point off a return pass from Mathew Barzal.

The Canadiens regained the lead at 3:17 when Guhle scored on slap shot through traffic from the center point.

Slafkovsky made it 5-3 at 8:08 when he scored on a one-timer from the low slot off a pass from Caufield behind the net.

Caufield pushed the lead to 6-3 when he scored from the slot off a pass from Slafkovsky in the right circle at 11:20.

Caufield capped the hat trick with a goal on a 2-on-1 rush at 14:59 for the 7-3 final.

–Field Level Media